A curious vocal pattern has crept into the speech of young adult women who speak American English: low, creaky vibrations, also called vocal fry. Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style. Now, a new study of young women in New York state shows that the same guttural vibration-once considered a speech disorder-has become a language fad.

Vocal fry sounds like this, and a study by Long Island University found more than 2/3 of their 34 female student test subjects used the sound, usually at the end of sentences. Very interesteeeaaaaaaaaang. [via Three Quarks Daily, image via Shutterstock]